Drive for toy vehicles



Oct. 14, 1958 R, HAUssER 2,855,722'

DRIVE FOR TOY VEHICLES "/,INVENTOR R027 Havas er BY .ajromsy 06f. 14,1958 R, HAUssER 2,855,722

DRIVE FOR TOY VEHICLES Filed Feb. 13, 1953 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 j if Rozf#1955er ATTORNEY nited States Patent O 2,855,722 DRIVE FOR TOY VEHICLESRolf Hausser, Neustadt, near Coburg, Germany, assiguor to O. & M.Hausser, Neustadt, near Coburg, Germany, a German firm ApplicationFebruary 13, 1953, Serial No. 336,821

` s Claims. (c1. 46-208) The invention relates to a drive for toyvehicles, especially toy motor cars such as freight cars, and ischaracterized thereby that a helical spring is used for producing thepower for the driving gear, in contradistinction to the usual runninggears for toys in which a coiled spring is utilized.

If a helical spring is used for producing the power various problemsarise the solution of which is not quite simple. The power existing atthe two opposite ends of a helical spring wound up acts on parts of thevehicle, e. g. the chassis, to which the spring is fastened. Therefore,often distortions of these parts of the vehicle arise. 11n order toavoid such distortionsv these parts of the Evehicle must be very strong,a fact which is undesired not only on account of the selection of asuitable material and the cost connected therewith but also because theweight and the dimensions are increased thereby. Besides, a toy vehicleespecially a toy motor car must cover a` sufficiently long distancebefore requiring the spring to Lie wound up again. Therefore, asuiliciently large and sufficiently strong spring must be accommodated,a fact not only difficult on account of the distorting forces mentionedabove but also on account of the required space. Moreover a toy vehiclehaving its gear shifted to a certain position must run with a uniformspeed, a helical spring, however, tends to unwind quickly inthe`beginning and then gradually slower. Also thecontrol of the frictionconditions arising when winding up the spring and when the windings ofthe lspring contraction the inner rod provided for guiding the spring isdifficult. According to the invention these problems may be solvedsimply as well as surprisingly by transmitting the accumulated power ofthe spring from that of its ends at which it is wound up, and carryingoff said power near the vother end of the spring which is fastened to animmovable part of the vehicle.

According to a further feature of the invention a rotatably supportedsleeve serves to guide the helical spring, said sleeve embracing thewind up shaft in the region of the spring and carrying the spring. Thiscarrying sleeve prevents friction losses which may arise if the springengages the winding up shaft passing therel through. Only the ends ofthe carrying sleeve are supported by short collars to warrant their easyrunning. It is of special advantage to provide on the carrying sleeve afurther sleeve composed of numerous rings.

According to a further feature of the invention the mentioned screwspringdrive is combined with a fly wheel motor, e. g. by inserting a ywheel as an additional force accumulator between the driving shaft ofthe driving mechanism and its driven shaft.

For starting and stopping the driving mechanism, according to theinvention, a braking lever is used passing through an opening of thewall along which the lly wheel 'slides and acting on the circumferenceof the y Wheel.

The braking lever which preferably is a rocking lever may move suitablynot only into the braking position and into the driving position, butalso into a third shifting position in which it has a further function,e. g. to close the current circuit of a light system.

A specially advantageous embodiment vof the invention is to arrange thehelical'spring in the longitudinal direction ofthe vehicle, toshapethedriving mechanism as z square portion d for receiving a winding-up keyand is.

a motor imitation provided above the'shaft of the frontwheels and todrive the rear-wheel shaft thereby by means of a transmission shaft.

Further features and advantages of the invention are explained in thefollowing specification and description of the drawings showinganembodiment of the invention schematically. In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a side View of the driving mechanism partially in alongitudinal section,

Fig. 2 is a plan view of Fig. 1, partly in a longitudinal section,

Fig. 3 is a front elevational view in the direction ofy the arrow X inFig. l,

Fig. 4 is a plan view of Fig. 3,

Fig. 5 is a section on line 5-5 of Fig. 3,

Fig. 6is a side view partly in section of a y wheel,

Fig. 7 is a cross section through the fly wheel of Fig. 6,

Fig. 8 is a rear elevational View in the direction of the arrow Y inFig. l, and

Fig. 9 is a section on the line 9-9 of Fig. 8.

Oneend of a helical spring 1 is connected to the casing 3 of the drivinggears at 2. The other end of said spring is attached at 5 to a flange 6secured to the winding-up shaft 7. The shaft 7 is provided at its rearend with a supported in the girder 9 of the rear-wheel chassis.

Within the helical spring 1 a carrying sleeve l@ is provided, supportedby short collars 11 and 12, one of which is fastened tothe casing 3 ofthe driving gear an;d the other tothe ange 6. The collars 11 and 12and/or the carrying sleeve 10 consist suitably of stainless metal suchas brass or the like so that even if the vehicle stands in wet locationsfor a certain period of time the capability of the carrying sleeve 10 ofbeing easily turned is not impaired.

The wind-up shaft 7 is elongated towards the driving gears. it passesthrough the carrying sleeve 1t) in the axial direction and is coupledwith the driving shaft 14 ofthe driving gear 2i by a universal joint 13.The two shafts engage each other by means of their fork like ends onsaid shaft ends'.

Therefore, the power accumulated by winding up the helical spring iscarried off at that end of the helical spring where the spring is woundup, but the transmission of'this power is effected near the place wherethe other end-of the helical spring is fastened to the casing 3 of thedriving gears, through the pinion 15 of the shaft 14 to the wheels ofthe driving gears.

The pinion 15 meshes with a pinion 16 on a shaft 17 on which a toothedwheel 18 is mounted engaging a pinion 19 on an axle 29. A toothed wheel21 is mounted on the axle 2@ and'drives a pinion 22 on a shaft of a ilywheel A free motionis provided in this transmission. In the embodimentillustrated in the drawings this free motion consists in supporting theshaft 17 of the driving gears in a wall 2li of the casing 3 of thedriving gear and in a slot 25 (Fig. 3) so that the shaft is in its lowerbearing position only if power is transmitted. The shaft then transmitsthe drive through the Wheel '18 to the pinion 19 while when rotating inthe opposite direction, it is lifted andthe transmission of the power tothe pinion 19 is interrupted. i p l As already mentioned a speciallyimportant advantage of the invention may be attained by combining thehelical spring drive with a fly wheel motor. In the embodiment showny inthe drawing the y wheel 23 is accommodated in a pgot like casing 26preferably made by a drawing step, rso that its wall 27 is smooth andseamless. A segment 28 (Fig. 6) inserted into the Hy wheel 23 coactswith the wall like a centrifugal regulator. vThe segment 3. 28- is heldin its position of rest by an open spring ring 29.- inserted into acircumferential groove 30 of the y wheel so that its one end 31 liesbefore the segment and its other end 32 engages the segment. The segmentslides along the inner wall 27 if moved outwardly by centrifugal force.The stronger the action of centrifugal force, the greater its frictionalpressure. The segment, therefore, causes a uniform releasing of thehelical spring 1. The described embodiment warrants a rather uniformreleasing of the spring from the beginning up to the end, as proved bytests, therefore the vehicle moves with a uniform speed corresponding tothe set gear. The additional power accumulated by the rotating flywheel, of course, also helps in this respect.

According to the invention the ily wheel 23 which consists preferably*of two outer disks and an inner disk of smaller thickness, Fig. 7,serves also for starting and stopping the driving mechanism. For thispurpose a brake lever 33 is provided with a nose portion 34 and whichpasses through an opening 35 of the wall 27 to engage the circumferenceof the fly wheel 23. This brake lever may be rocked up and down aroundits angularly bent web 36. For operating this lever 33 a hand lever 37is provided bent towards a web 36. If this lever is in the position I(Fig. 3) the nose 34 of the brake lever 33 presses onto the fly wheeland prevents it from turning and the vehicle stops. If, however, thehand lever 37 is moved upwardly into the position II (Fig. 3) the nose34 of the brake lever 33 clears the fly wheel and the vehicle runs. Asshown in the drawings the lever 37 may also be moved to a third positionI-ll and this position has a further function, preferably for closingthe current circuit of a light system, not shown. Preferably the threepositions of the brake lever 33 are limited by grooves or the like inthe casing of the driving gears. v

The driving gears 4 are arranged above a front wheel shaft 38 as shownin the drawings, and suitably it serves for carrying the front-wheelshaft or the pivots of the two front wheels. It may be shaped tosimulate a motor and may be easily accommodated below the motor hood ofthe vehicle. The rear-wheel shaft 39 is driven by the driving gear bymeans of a transmission shaft 40 coupled with the associated drivenshaft of the driving gear by a cardan joint. For this purpose the twoshaft ends engage each other by fork-like members.

At the rear end the transmission shaft 40 carries a spur wheel 41adapted to engage alternately two crown wheels 42 and 43 when thevehicle is shifted to forward running or backward running. Also, thetransmission shaft 40 may be shifted into Va middle position or may bemoved somewhat in the axial direction so that the wheel 41 providedthereon does not mesh with any of the two wheels 42 or 43, also thatidle running is achieved or the vehicle is in the stop position. Thelongitudinal displacement of the shaft 40 is possible in consequence ofthe fork-like coupling with the shaft 20 of the driving wheel.

The rear end of the transmission shaft 40 is supported in the wall 44 bymeans of a horizontal transverse slot 45. This sliot is provided at itstwo ends with a downwardly directed groove 46 and an upwardly directedgroove 47 respectively. These two grooves are engaged by the shaft 40when shifted to forward running or backward running respectively. Thesaid shaft is automatically secured by the counter-pressure of the crownwheel 42 or 43 respectively driven by its toothed wheel 41. If the shaftis in the recess 46 the wheel 41 meshes with the wheel 42 therebyrotating in the direction of the arrow Z. In consequence thereof thewheel 42 exerts a counter pressure oppositely directed and pressing theshaft downward, thereby holding the shaft in the recess 46; Conversely,if the wheel 41 meshes with the wheel 43 an upwardly directedcounter-pressure is exsite@ by the Wheel. 4.3 in Consequene 0fv itstravel, in the i a driving gear mounted at one end in said chassis andcomprising a driven shaft, a helical spring connected to operatel saiddriving gear for driving the latter and having one end secured to thesaid chassis, a shaft arranged longitudinally in said helical spring;one end of said last-mentioned shaft being connected with the other endof the spring so that the spring may be wound up by turning the shaftlast-mentioned and the other end of said last-mentioned shaft beingsupported near the end of the spring connected to the chassis, and beingthe driving shaft for said driving gear, a free motion device connectedto said last-mentioned shaft and said driven shaft of said driving gear,and a fly wheel connected to said last-mentioned shaft lof the drivinggear and said driven shaft.

2. A toy` vehicle according to claim 1, in which a centrifugal regulatoris provided connected to operate with said fly wheel, said centrifugalregulator comprising a wall enclosing said fly wheel, a segment insertedin the circumference of said fly wheel and being movable in the radialdirection and an open spring ring inserted into a circumferential grooveof the fly wheel, the ends of the ring being attached to the y wheel andthe segment respectively, and said segment being slidably pressedagainst said wall by centrifugal force.

3. A toy vehicle ac-cording to claim l, in which said y wheel consistsof three concentric disks of which the middle disc has a smallerdiameter to form a circumferential groove.

4. A toy vehicle comprising a chassis for the vehicle, a driving gearmounted at ione end in said chassis and comprising a driving shaft and adriven shaft, a helical spring connected to operate said driving gearfor driving the latter and one end secured to said chassis, the drivingshaft being arranged in the interior of said helical spring with one endof said shaft being connected with the other end of the spring so thatthe spring may be wound up by turning the shaft and the other end ofsaid shaft being supported near the first-mentioned end of the springsecured to the chassis, and a free motion device connected to saiddriving shaft and said driven shaft of said driving gear, a casing forsaid driving gear,

a y wheel enclosed by said casing and connected to.

said driving shaft and said driven shaft, and a centrifugal regulatorcomprising a segment inserted in the circumference of said y wheel andbeing movable in the radial direction, said segment being slidablypressed against the wall of the casing by centrifugal force.

5. A toy vehicle according to claim 3 in which a braking lever isprovided pivotally connected to the chassis and adapted to pass throughan opening in said chassis to engage the said fly wheel thereby stoppingthe vehicle.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,449,448 Roy Mar. 27, 1923 1,547,517 Neff July 28, 1925. 1,599,101Savage Sept. 7, 1926 1,846,823 Westberg Feb. 23, 1932 2,131,877 KingOct. 4, 1938 2,172,416 Swenson Sept. l2, 1939 FOREIGN PATENTS 162,101Great Britain Apr. 28, 1921 .'....r-.'. Sept' 12J

